UTSA swift mascot statue took a while

Albert Garcia mops around the Rowdy the Roadrunner sculpture at UTSA on Sept. 19, 2013.

Photo By Lisa Krantz/San Antonio Express-News

UTSA Student Government Association officers including secretary Jerome Scott, from left, vice president Andie Watson, treasurer Boyd Garriott and president Zack Dunn pose with the Rowdy the Roadrunner sculpture they helped bring to UTSA, at the campus on Sept. 19, 2013.

Photo By Lisa Krantz/San Antonio Express-News

The Rowdy the Roadrunner sculpture at UTSA on Sept. 19, 2013.

Photo By Lisa Krantz/San Antonio Express-News

Feathers on the Rowdy the Roadrunner sculpture at UTSA on Sept. 19, 2013.

Photo By Lisa Krantz/San Antonio Express-News

Students pass the new Rowdy the Roadrunner sculpture at UTSA on Sept. 19, 2013.

Photo By Lisa Krantz/San Antonio Express-News

A student passes the new Rowdy the Roadrunner sculpture at UTSA on Sept. 19, 2013.

Photo By Lisa Krantz/San Antonio Express-News

The new Rowdy the Roadrunner sculpture at UTSA on Sept. 19, 2013.

Photo By Lisa Krantz/San Antonio Express-News

The new Rowdy the Roadrunner sculpture at UTSA on Sept. 19, 2013.

Rowdy the Roadrunner is home.

The 6-foot-tall, 11-foot-long, 1,000-pound iron statue of the University of Texas at San Antonio's fleet-footed mascot is on a temporary perch at the entrance of the University Center on the main campus this month after a $25,000 fundraising campaign.

Students will vote on a permanent location. They've narrowed the choices to centralized sites on the Paseo, a walkway in the middle of campus, said Jerome Scott II, the student government secretary.

Some students were on the verge of tears when it was unveiled on campus Sept. 6, and “want it where they can touch it for good luck before a test,” said UTSA associate athletic director Jim Goodman.

Rowdy's history stretches back to 1977, when dorms and a football team were a distant mirage but students voted to make the bird UTSA's symbol.

Among them was Terry Schwartz, Class of 1981, who still follows campus news online from her home in Topeka, Kan., and sent a donation to support the statue campaign. She remembers potential mascot choices included a horned toad. In the final vote, Rowdy beat out an armadillo.

“The roadrunner is fast and quick. He seemed more the type,” Schwartz said by phone. “It gives me a sense of pride that I voted for the mascot.”

In 2010, several student organizations began working with Sam Gonzales, interim vice president for student affairs; Barry McKinney, assistant dean of students; and UTSA staff to bring a statue to the main campus.

A year later, Goodman was watching TV and saw an episode of “Texas Country Reporter” profiling R.G. Box, a noted blacksmith artist in Lubbock. Goodman made a note when Box said he wanted to sculpt a giant roadrunner, then contacted him.

But he couldn't promise the university would buy it.

“It was a long process,” Goodman said. “Mr. Box built it on faith.”

The blacksmith worked 1,000 hours for nearly a year on the statue. He individually produced the 1,000 feathers lining the steel skin, firing them to 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit.

“I just loved it,” Box, 78, said of the finished work. “I hated to turn him loose.”

In 2012, Goodman drove to Box's studio outside Lubbock to see the final product. As he steered his truck onto a gravel road, two roadrunners dashed past his front bumper and Goodman saw that as a good sign.

But students were still raising money. When the goal was reached, Box wrapped his creation in plastic and blankets, moved it by forklift onto a trailer and drove it to its new home, detouring to the Alamodome for the Sept. 7 home opener football game against Oklahoma State University. He posed for pictures with his creation as fans rubbed Rowdy's feet for a win.